Obituary – OBITUARY album review

3.5 stars out of 5

No introduction needed here folks, Obituary is one of the Godfathers of Death Metal. 30 plus years since their inception they are still going strong, putting out their 10th studio album simply titled OBITUARY. Obituary has always been consistently brutal and ominous, even if some albums are better than others you generally know exactly what you are going to get when you buy an Obituary album and I like that. Let’s see how the new one measures up with their other material.

The first thing that struck me about this album is the speed of the first few tracks and the slickness of the production. Obituary hasn’t had an album this professionally recorded since probably BACK FROM THE DEAD (1997) when they were still recording at Morrisound and you can tell this is their full-length debut for Relapse Records. The first two tracks “Brave” and “Sentence Day” are both pretty blistering and Kenny Andrews plays some solos like you’ve never heard on an Obituary album before. John’s voice sounds great, much thicker and more layered here than it did on 2014’s INKED IN BLOOD, definitely benefitting from some overdubs. Donald’s drumming is powerful and is emphasized more than usual. I don’t care for “A Lesson in Violence”, the lightest song on the album. Sounds like something that could have been on the TARDY BROTHERS records a few years back. Kind of like a Judas Priest song (think “Dissident Aggressor”) with John’s vocals. “End It Now” is heavy and fast again. John’s vocals are killer – PPPLLLLLEEEAAASSE END IT NOW! I like “It Lives” because it is slow and creepy, there aren’t many signature slow Obituary passages on the whole album so I savor this song. “Betrayed” sounds a bit commercial to me, don’t really dig that one. “Turned to Stone” is more like vintage Obituary and “Straight to Hell” is fun – (Going straight to Hell, with a pointy head!). “Ten Thousand Ways to Die” is decent, it already appeared on the EP of the same name last year, and I dig the bonus track “No Hope”, pretty intense.

Overall this is a good but not great album, I would rank it towards the bottom of their catalogue. The whole thing just feels a touch sanitized to me. The classic Obituary sense of dread is missing. There is nothing terrifying here. INKED IN BLOOD is very raw, but even that one has some foreboding tracks like “Deny You” and “Within a Dying Breed”. There is nothing like that on OBITUARY. Album cover is cool, I like the re-designed logo. Recommended for extreme metal fans.